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Via Freecycle I picked up some lumber and two skylights from some folks, Heather and Jason. Heather is a professional organizer so we had a good chat about reducing clutter and getting rid of stuff you don’t use but have a hard time letting go of. That can be a tough one. She pointed out that an organizer’s job is not to judge what you should keep and what you should get rid of, rather to help you consider your stuff from a different perspective (such as, “Do I really want or need this?”). She has a very no-nonsense air about her that I would definitely want around if I were looking for an organizer or just someone to help with cleaning out the garage or what have you. It was obvious from the outside and interior of their home that she also has impeccable taste, and can really declutter, reorganize, and re-beautify a room, not just help get rid of stuff. Check out the before-and-afters on her site. If you are near the 805 or 818 area code and want some help decluttering or just setting up a room, in my opinion you can’t miss. And, no, she didn’t ask me to say any of that! 🙂

They had a bunch of extra building and storage materials from their home remodel and from her clients; Heather mentioned that, like me, they donate anything they can to people on Freecycle.org or to Habitat ReStore rather than sending it to the dump. Since I live about 20 minutes closer to the local ReStore than they do, I offered to deliver their donations along with my next batch.

When I explained I was looking for reclaimed materials to build a little house, Heather introduced me to her neighbor, who handed me her cell phone: It was her sister Claudia, who owns a local doors and windows company. Claudia was surprised I would want used windows or doors, and happy that I would pick them up to save her crew from taking them to the dump. I believe that counts as a win/win/win. Thanks, Heather!

I am curious to find out just how many windows Claudia’s company replaces in a month, and whether I can help set up some way to keep them out of the landfill on an ongoing basis. I’m reminded of the words of Dan Phillips of Phoenix Commotion, a truly amazing person. You have got to watch some of the videos on Dan and the houses he builds, or check out the New York Times article, including the slideshow. In this video Dan remarked that without his program to build houses from materials that would normally have been sent to the landfill,

“A town this size would otherwise be discarding usable building materials that would build a small-scale house once a week… We’re burying a small-scale house once a week! Well, that’s crazy, when we have these families that would do ANYthing to own a house.”

Dan is referring to Huntsville, TX, population 38,040. It’s a bit of an isolated town in that it doesn’t run right into four other towns around it. Ventura County (where I live) has little separation between towns or cities. It has a population of almost 800,000: twenty-one times larger than Huntsville, so we’re probably throwing away about three houses’ worth of materials every day.

Doing my project with salvaged and reclaimed materials has introduced me to so many cool people I’d never have gotten the chance to meet if I just bought everything new.

Almost everybody who finds out about my project is happy to help. Nobody has given me a weird look for using free and salvaged items. Instead they immediately start thinking of other things to donate, or people they could introduce me to who may have something that could benefit me. It’s a really unexpected bonus and it’s making this fun.

a walk-in closet or changing room for getting dressed in privacy and for easy access to stored clothing

a house wide enough that six or more people could sit in the great room around a dinner table

at least two private areas (rooms or lofts)

can sleep two couples comfortably full time with room for a third couple to sleep over

no need to stoop over to access a dorm room fridge beneath a counter

a large freezer and a large refrigerator

a convection oven and a microwave oven

two cooktop burners

higher water pressure than a basic gravity system

house can operate off-grid for at least 1 month without refueling in case electrical, water, and/or gas hookups are not available

windows in every room

I put perhaps five 40-hour weeks into researching and developing the layout, house design, and exact size (and in some cases, brand and model number) of just about everything that will go into the house: Which toilet, which water heater, fridge, cabinets, sofa, sinks, burners, tub, flooring, counter height, windows, etc.

Using wooden doors, big sheets of cardboard, and a measuring tape I mocked up and tested various room combinations to see what dimensions worked and what didn’t.

I sat in my bathtub to see the mininum and maximum height the bathroom window should be in my tiny house.

I arranged chairs around a small table in my kitchen and set the table with plates and serving dishes to see how various layouts worked in real life – how much room each person would need while still leaving room for shared dishes, etc.

I mocked up a sleeping loft and had my daughter test it out to see how it worked for sitting, playing, and curling up (she gets to make the decisions regarding her loft, and loves it).

As a result, I have met all my criteria in a house that’s the same size as a Tumbleweed. I hope my design, ideas, and my tiny house can help inspire others who are interested in small living but don’t want to decrease convenience from their current level.

I’ll clean up the floorplan so others can understand it, and post it here shortly!

My amazingly talented friend Calethia Deconto is moving again, and getting rid of most of her things. She said the fewer things she has, the more free she feels. “Having too much stuff is unhealthy. I think going too far with minimalism isn’t healthy either, but I look at this stuff and if I haven’t used it by now, let someone else have it, if they’re going to do something with it. I don’t need it.”

She gave me 50 square feet of brand new bamboo flooring she found by the side of the road in Sunland, CA. It was exactly the kind I planned to buy if I couldn’t find any!

I’m going with a light color flooring (and walls, ceilings, and cabinets) because it will make the house bright and cheery, and seem larger inside, instead of a little dark cave. Some friends of mine just installed very beautiful and very dark cabinets and hardwood floors in their house — the room’s feeling went from cheery to somber. My house needs to feel like a bright sunny day.

She also gave me the top from a desk. The wood is beautiful and exactly what I hoped for; it looks like cherry or something. And it’s exactly the right width and length I need: 2’x5′.

I’m going to cut it and turn it into a leaf table. At 4′ long with no leaf it will be the computer desk and have room for two people and two computers side by side.

With the leaf, at 5′ long it will be the dinner table and seat 6 people.

I’m amazed this and the flooring were exactly what I wanted.

She also gave me a slice of tree trunk; apparently you can get them at Michael’s Crafts (although I can’t find it on the Michaels.com website). I’m going to cut it in half and make two semi-circle shelves out of it; I want the house to feel a bit like a cabin in the woods.

Speaking of woodsy, she also gave me a small pair of deer antlers. I’ll either use them for some kind of coat rack, or for something else, like a wall sconce for a light.

I went to Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore in Oxnard today. It’s a thrift store for building materials – they accept donations and they sell them at discounted prices to raise money for Habitat.

There were rows of doors, windows, washers and dryers, refrigerators, doorknobs, tools, etc. Pricing seemed very good. For example, some of the sinks were as low as $5.00, and there was a good selection.

One of the ways ReStore can be better than free stuff is most people who place an ad for free stuff basically want to get rid of it without even having to bother taking it to the dump. So they won’t bother to take a photograph. Thus you may show up for a free item that turns out to be ugly, not as described, cracked, smelly, etc. At ReStore you can browse through things firsthand.